


Slow Steps

by donghyns (orphan_account)



Category: NCT (Band), SM Rookies
Genre: Angst, Best Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, they're so cute pls, yukhei falls in love first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-09 19:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/donghyns
Summary: Wong Yukhei is a best friend Jungwoo could never replace. But Kim Jungwoo is the boy Yukhei had watched to walk towards him awfully slow—and he hates to believe he's fallen in love with his best friend, even when it's the truth.





	1. Prolouge

Yukhei had never thought of living in a movie, a sitcom that’s been rewatched far too many times. He had never thought he’d feel the same way as the non-existent characters thousands of people have watched.

He had never thought he would.

Seeing Jungwoo walk towards him had never happened so _awfully_ _slow_ that Yukhei had to wince as he watched. It wasn’t realistic but it happened anyway.

“Hey, are you okay? You look pale?” He swallows the lump in his throat, nodding profoundly with his gaze set a little far and he faces Jungwoo with a forced smile.

“I look pale?” He asks, sounding a little surprised and Jungwoo chuckles, “you do.”

He swallows once more although the lump had been completely thrown down to the pit of his stomach and was no longer there, Yukhei runs a hand through his hair and licks his lips.

It’s the first time Yukhei had felt this way.

Jungwoo had been with him ever since Yukhei fell off a flight of stairs back in their second year of high school. Yukhei was lucky Jungwoo was kind and offered a hand for help—because Yukhei can’t live with his clumsy self for years.

In fact, Yukhei had even looked at Jungwoo the wrong way back then. Telling himself to thank the boy for helping and never talk to him again. He didn’t really think Jungwoo would be the other half of his, like his life depends on whether he’s with him or not.

Now, Jungwoo’s the only person he shares his secrets with, his favorite buddy to the movies and his lunch mate.

And they’ve been sharing things, promised each other plenty of times that his fingers would lack for the amount. They were that kind of duo.

Or to be precise, they were best friends.

But what Yukhei remembers is that best friends don’t see their best friend walk up to them in slow motion that seems to be unlikely in the world we live in, neither do best friends feel that uncontrollable thumping in their chest that they could hear it in their ears so well when they see them.

“Yukhei?”

He turns to Jungwoo one more time, finding the smile Jungwoo was always wearing and there it goes again, the feeling he finds so difficult to explain and to understand.

He breathes in, feeling his chest become a little heavy. His stomach suddenly feels different and he rewinds his day in his head yet he doesn’t remember anything bad he had eaten, Yukhei tells himself it’s just him.

Yeah, really, there are no butterflies. Really, there aren't any.

“Y-Yeah?” He forces out of his throat, eyes blinking a little too quickly with each second and Jungwoo grabs his hand and Yukhei panics but he couldn’t do anything but to stare at it.

“Let’s go?”

It takes a while before it sinks in. Yukhei stares at their hands for about a set of minutes and finally lifts his head up to look at Jungwoo, and he immediately feels himself weaken at the sight of a happy Jungwoo and so he gulps.

“Yeah, come on.”


	2. Lego Towers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungwoo hopes he finds out what Yukhei's favorite color but he's caught wanting to find out something else

Yukhei had apparently known Jungwoo his whole life. The only difference from now is that they’re friends, unlike before they were close to strangers yet Jungwoo was a name Yukhei couldn’t quite forget.

It’s funny, actually. There were several occassions where Yukhei reminds Jungwoo about it. How they always passed by each other, unaware of how compatible they were.

Now, when Yukhei looks at the both of them, it makes him happy.

From building towers of lego to which Jungwoo could only watch from a distance, to making a tower of toothpicks for a project together.

“You know, we could’ve not met. Why do you keep telling me you know I watch you build those towers.” It was Wednesday, the both of them spend a heck lot of their time in the library during Wednesdays, because Yukhei has a lot of learning to do and Jungwoo’s more than willing to help him… if only Yukhei was actually learning anything.

Yukhei balances a pencil between his nose and upper lip before it falls and he watches it roll towards Jungwoo, “you were always staring. You had a future.”

“Of what?”  
“Of being my boyfriend.”

He catches Jungwoo staring at him oddly later on but it didn’t take long for Jungwoo to burst into giggles that the librarian had to shush the both of them—it’s not like they’ll shut up anyway.

“Right. Kim Jungwoo has a crush on Wong Yukhei… wasn’t that always the case?” Jungwoo splutters, holding back laughter that he snorts every now and then. Yukhei finds it incredibly cute and he feels warmth on his cheeks when he looks into Jungwoo’s direction.

Ridiculous, they’re talking about Jungwoo having a crush on him, how come he’s the one being flustered.

“Well, you always pointed out my towers were bad for the eyes, you didn’t like the color pattern,” Yukhei mumbles, loudly flipping through pages. Jungwoo turns to him with his mouth slightly open and he laughs again.

It was his last resort to pull up the book to face level, hiding the pink on his cheeks the least because Jungwoo just wouldn’t stop being so freaking cute and Yukhei might just not be able to help himself. “You kept putting on blue and mixed it with red when you had the chance. It wasn’t obvious you were fond of… blue?”

It was Yukhei’s turn to chuckle, setting the book down on the table at long last since the warmth was starting to leave, “to be very honest, I just wanted to build a tower. It isn’t my fault they had more blue legos rather than other colors.”

Jungwoo laughs again and Yukhei’s about to panic.

_Would you stop laughing, I like it when you laugh._

“I should’ve asked our teacher to buy much more colors.”  
“Yeah, what stopped you?”  
“You.”

Yukhei has his fist balled under the table, biting both of his lips as he tries to process what had Jungwoo said. He opens his lips to speak but then he couldn’t find the right words, or he thinks they aren’t the right ones.

He clamps his mouth shut, opening them again only for him to close it. He’s nervous and they aren’t even talking about anything serious.

“What do you mean me?” he asks, the taste of regret on his tongue. It tastes bitter. Yukhei hates it.

“Oh,” was all that Jungwoo said, the tone laced on it makes Yukhei wince. Jungwoo’s pondering now, looking up to the ceiling as he taps his chin and Yukhei takes it as his only time to breathe.

Not to mention the taste of regret still on his tongue and wow, he despises it now.

It wasn’t like Jungwoo would say anything bad, but Yukhei still regrets it regardless. It’s probably because Jungwoo is capable to say something to keep Yukhei on the thin string of hope he’s been holding on to for months now and Yukhei’s blindly looking for a reason to let go.

Sadly, he can’t.

“You looked like you loved those lego towers, from the height, from how it fell and you’d just laugh at it like you hadn’t worked so hard for it, to the color pattern alone. You were a cute kid, Yuk.”

Outside, Yukhei looks unimpressed, eyes narrowed towards his best friend yet the flushed cheeks give it away and Jungwoo can’t take him seriously.

Inside, he’s screaming, close to tears and he’s repeating to himself over and over to just shut up. He won’t be getting anywhere with this.

“Cute kid my ass, you were cuter. Always admiring my precious lego towers!” Jungwoo’s giggling again, not tired from doing so. “I wouldn’t admire them if the creator wasn’t you, Yuk.”

_Would you just shut up?! The both of you! Just shut up!_

Yukhei’s mind was running wild and he can’t avoid the thumping on his chest. The sound of the legs of the chair screech across the floor, Jungwoo’s eyebrows are furrowed as he watches Yukhei excuse himself out of the library.

He runs, somewhere he thinks he’s safe and when he knows he’s out of Jungwoo’s line of sight, he smiles.

He’s giggling to himself, arm resting on the wall and he just feels so damn happy. It’s like he’s won the biggest contest, or, or, getting the gift you’ve always wanted for your birthday or christmas, or… finding out the person you like… likes you back.

So on Thursday, Yukhei’s bag was full of books. “I can bet on… my whole allowance today that you can’t count how many cats are on that roof,” Jungwoo chimes, tugging on Yukhei’s bag, adding on even more weight that Yukhei shrieks.

“Hey, watch the bag, it can rip any minute now!” Yukhei snarls, hitting his best friend on the arm—to which Jungwoo only laughs at. “Come on, tell me how many cats are on the roof!”

Yukhei follows Jungwoo’s finger with his gaze and he lets out an audible sigh, “what will I get if I get the number right?”

Thursdays were always like this. Jungwoo’s confident over his bets despite the amount of times he’s lost, because Yukhei is unpredictable. Most of the time, Yukhei lets himself lose; Jungwoo was an exceptionally happy kid when he wins in these bets.

Besides, Yukhei would rather lose _to_ him, than lose _him_.

“I’ll do your homework, free of charge.”

“Okay,” he puts his bag on the ground, glad to have gotten rid of the tremendous weight on his shoulders and he stands on his tip-toes.

When he’s done, he finds Jungwoo counting as well, and Jungwoo turns to him with a grin and Yukhei knows what he’s thinking. “Alright, tell me how many cats are on the roof,” Jungwoo says, grin still on his face and Yukhei rolls his eyes before opening his mouth.

But then there was something stopping him. Yukhei is a hundred percent sure of the number of cats but he’s not a hundred percent sure whether Jungwoo was in the mood to lose today, so he thinks of it for a moment and finally utters his answer.

“Five.”

Jungwoo bursts into loud laughter, slapping his best friend on the arm. Yukhei might’ve made himself look stupid, but it was worth it. “Yukhei!” Jungwoo exclaims, wrapping an arm around Yukhei’s shoulders and points to the roof, “aren’t you tall enough to see more cats than I do?!”

True, he is very tall, and it seems very unlikely for Yukhei to only see five when there were really nine.

“It’s science.”  
“No, it’s not! Oh dear god, Yukhei!”

Yukhei only laughs with him, taking the bag from the ground. “Alright, come on now, we’ve had our fun,” he takes a few steps forward but he feels a hand on his and he turns around so quick, he probably cracked a bone. “Ack!” He shrieks and he’s freaking out so bad because he’s seeing Jungwoo stare right into his eyes, “hey! You aren’t leaving without me, right?”

The warmth spreads on his cheeks so fast that Yukhei wasn’t able to cover it up before it was entirely seen. Jungwoo gasps, lifting a finger up but Yukhei turns his head away almost immediately, “Yuk… are you okay?”

“I’m alright!” Yukhei screams, scrubbing his cheeks—as if it can do anything—and he feels Jungwoo’s hand tighten on its hold. It makes Yukhei panic even more, trying to tug his hand away but Jungwoo refuses to let it go.

And his heart is thumping so bad, Yukhei can hear it in his ears.

_Oh my god, go away, go away!_

“Come on, I just want ice cream,” Jungwoo whines, Yukhei musters up every ounce of courage he has to look at him again. “Fine, let’s go,” Yukhei says, running ahead of Jungwoo with their hands still together, he’s dragging the boy behind him but, Jungwoo doesn’t mind at all.

“So, about those lego towers,” Jungwoo starts, biting on the Melona Yukhei had bought him just a couple of minutes ago. They’re walking home now, Yukhei having nothing as Jungwoo enjoys the treat in hand. “What about them?” Yukhei asks, hands in his pockets, avoiding to look at Jungwoo because God knows what might happen.

He hasn’t fully recovered from what happened a while ago and he finds it funny that Jungwoo only held his hand, nothing special, but he feels so many butterflies that it makes him want to run.

Jungwoo takes another bite before he merely shoves the treat onto Yukhei’s face and mutters, “is blue really your favorite color?”

Yukhei leans away from the treat a little and he stares at it before he processes Jungwoo’s question in his head, even if his mind was still buffering. Wifi is slow today.

When talking about colors, Yukhei doesn’t really give it much of his mind. He wasn’t a great student in art class and that speaks for it.

Apparently, Yukhei doesn’t have a favorite color. That’s the biggest realization he’s had his whole life.

He didn’t really have much sense over colors as well, when he’s told to do a project, it was always a party of colors, terribly mixed and random rainbows are spread across his work and people had always thought one of those colors could be his favorite.

The blind truth was, Yukhei didn’t have any that’s why he’s always grabbing the first color he finds when he paints, when he buys things, when he chooses anything in general.

“No, I told you already, we had more blue legos than others,” Yukhei replies. Jungwoo throws the popsicle stick into a trash can before he raises an eyebrow, “what’s your favorite color then?”

Yukhei wishes he could answer but then he shrugs, “how do you even choose one?”

Jungwoo hums, stretching his arms up into the air, “what attracts you the most, what makes you feel things the most, that’s what a favorite color does. Some even choose theirs over their favorite thing,” he replies, giving Yukhei a pat on the back.

Those lego towers were just a stack of blue and red that Yukhei only did out of boredom. Yukhei can say blue seemed strikingly attractive but it’s not quite his taste, he doesn’t like it.

His mother would always buy things in one color for him when he was a kid. The problem was, his mother buys one color every year because her son just doesn’t seem to like them.

“Ah, these colors are burdensome, can we not think of it?” Yukhei complains that it makes Jungwoo roll his eyes, “you’re no fun! I wanted to buy you a birthday gift but I don’t know your favorite color!”

Yukhei huffs, “then buy any color, I don’t really mind. My favorite color doesn’t matter.”

“No, I can’t choose, you have to tell me, Yuk!”

Yukhei groans. Why is Jungwoo always pushing him with these kind of things? He doesn’t know either. He’s just glad Jungwoo cares about him, even when it’s the littlest things.

Though, Yukhei doesn’t always have an answer. Sure, he can tell Jungwoo what his favorite cake was, his favorite flavor of ice cream was but again, Yukhei has an awful color problem and as much as he wants to give Jungwoo his answer, he just can’t.

He’ll try even if it’s hard though.

Yukhei names every single thing that attracts him the most, everything that gives him certain feelings and they’re all floating above his head as they both walk into their street.

There were tons of things, and he hopes he finds an answer before they could make it to their own homes.

But everything had either no color—black and white and his mother had always said black nor white were… actual colors—or different kinds that it makes it even more difficult than it already was to choose.

Well, damn, Yukhei just wants to get this over with.

He throws all those things at the back of his head, trying to think of more but nothing comes to his mind and it’s making him mad.

And it only takes him a few minutes to realize that the best choice of color… was right next to him.

What attracts him the most was the smile Jungwoo always had on his face. Whenever Yukhei had his face buried on textbooks during Wednesdays, it was always that smile that keeps his eyes on something different than those pages that are probably wet by his saliva.

It makes him feel things too. When Jungwoo laughs, Yukhei feels his stomach churn, the heat on his face that he can’t seem to ignore and it’s so hard to not feel them when Jungwoo’s happy.

And Yukhei then realizes, he finally has an answer.

That his favorite color was Jungwoo.

His favorite color was the life Jungwoo brings to his every day. How everytime Jungwoo was around, things just seemed to be brighter, to be better. It’s like he’s able to see color because of Jungwoo.

And he smiles, tapping Jungwoo’s shoulder before he happily claps his hands, “buy me anything that has a sun.”

“The sun?”  
“A sun.”  
“A sun?”  
“Yes!”

Jungwoo feels confused but whatever his best friend wants, he’d get. It wasn’t like Yukhei could give him something he doesn’t have, if Yukhei doesn’t have a favorite color, it doesn’t matter.

But he doesn’t know why, out of all the designs that Jungwoo can find in a certain store, it has to be the sun.

No, it’s not hard to find anything with a sun imprinted on them. He can find a cap somewhere in the mall for a great price with a cute sun on it but still, he doesn’t understand.

“Why?” was all he asks, jumping over the small brick wall they pass by everyday and Yukhei motions for him to just shush, “don’t ask. The sun reminds me of something, you can probably say my favorite color is yellow.”

Jungwoo furrows his eyebrows, “since when was the sun yellow,” he jokingly states, Yukhei gives him a look almost the same as his, “let me have my moment, Jungwoo!”

He follows after Yukhei, walking in complete silence because both of them seem to have things to put into deep thought before they get home.

Jungwoo tries to list down every possible reason as to why it had to be the sun.

Is it because Yukhei enjoys his family’s yearly beach visits that he had become fond of the sun? Maybe not, Jungwoo remembers how Yukhei spent almost his entire vacation on a video chat with him the last time they were there.

It can’t be the sun in his sister’s room. He admits the sun was very nice, it was painted by a friend of his sister’s and it’s been there for a year or two already but Yukhei rarely visits his sister’s room so it couldn’t be it.

And Jungwoo jumps to the last reason he can think of and it forms a lump on his throat.

Metaphorically, Jungwoo knows when you’re in love you find the person you love to be like the sun. And now, Jungwoo’s throat is dry, his mind busy with the idea of Yukhei being in love.

He’s thinking of names and faces, people Yukhei was always associated with. But everyone don’t seem to be it. Yukhei rarely looks at anyone with admiration, he doesn’t talk about anyone with a happy tone in his voice. Who the hell could it be?!

He knows he could be wrong, but his gut tells him he’s right and it hurts so bad he doesn’t even know why.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he snaps out of his reverie, turning to Yukhei with the same perplexed look on his face and he waves absentmindedly, “oh, wait! Yuk!” he calls, hand reaching out to him.

Yukhei stops, twisting around to face Jungwoo with an eyebrow raised and Jungwoo sighs as he smiles, “thanks for the treat, you’re the best.”

“You’re welcome, I guess. Go home, Jungwoo, the sun is setting,” Yukhei says before he walks straight into his house and Jungwoo hesitantly turns to the other direction.

Right now, Jungwoo feels both betrayed and upset. If Yukhei is in love, he should’ve told him, right?

He jumps on his bed, a big frown on his face and he hopes he’ll be alright the next day because he’s so bothered, it makes his mind go crazy.

If Yukhei has a secret, Jungwoo is always the first person to know. That’s what best friends are for anyway, but

Jungwoo groans, cupping his face with both of his hands and sighs. For now, he lives with his own assurance that Yukhei might just like the sun and isn’t in love, because Yukhei would always tell him secrets, right?

Oh, how he hopes.

Jungwoo pulls the blanket up to his face, closing his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep and he hasn’t felt this much need to knock over Yukhei’s lego towers back when they were kids.

If he only had approached him back then, he might’ve had the courage to kick the height down.

“Darn lego towers.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg //yes// i have FINALLY updated and i can't believe i finished this chapter. thank you to all those who believed i'd get over this author's block soon. I mean i havent fully recovered but at least i can write now!!! although it's rubbish, i hope you all like this chapter even if i find it so redundant, wow i'm awful. thank you so much!!

**Author's Note:**

> HELLOOOO I'M BACK WITH A NEW (NOT REALLY) WRITING STYLE PLS HELP ME IM RECOVERING FROM AUTHOR'S BLOCK


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